Two Iranian Tankers Seized by US Military, Carrying Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Crude, Are Sailing Toward the United States
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Two Iranian supertankers seized by the US Navy in the early days of the Iran war are expected to arrive in the United States within weeks. US authorities plan to confiscate the vessels and the hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of crude oil they carry, making these voyages unusual, since imports of Iranian crude into the United States have been banned for decades. In April, when President Trump imposed a naval blockade to force Iran to end the war, the large tankers Tifani and Majestic X were seized by US forces in the Indian Ocean, and for the past week they have been sailing along the coast of Brazil. The US Department of Justice began forfeiture proceedings for both ships in April, and Homeland Security Investigations said it is executing warrants to seize the tankers themselves and the roughly 4 million barrels of Iranian crude they were carrying. A third seized tanker, the Lenore, also known as Davina, was captured in June and is heading west across the Atlantic around the Cape of Good Hope. Each of these supertankers can carry 2 million barrels, and the total value of their cargo comes to about 600 million dollars at current market prices, with all of them sailing at speeds of around 8 to 9 knots, below the usual 12 to 13 knots.